French Genealogy is Easy
by Jacquie Krieps Schattner
Before you begin any research overseas it’s good to have:
1) good current map like Michelin, 2)French-English dictionary,
Find European information by:
1) Websites 2)LDS films 3)write yourself, 4)hire someone 5) plan a trip!
Books
International Vital Records Handbook by Thomas Jay Kemp – how to write to other countries for
records
In Search of Your European Roots by Angus Baxter – good general book
Tracing Your European Roots – W. Daniel Quillen – Mt. Prospect library
The French Genealogy Blog – Anne Morddel - American
History
1661-1715 – Sun King
1789-1799 – French Revolution
1799-1815 – Napoleon in power – better schools, , church power reduced, helped all classes
construction of buildings and roads, individual freedom, central bank, metric system
1815-1848 - Monarchy
1848-1870 – 2nd Republic, 2nd Empire
1871-1914 Belle Époque
WWI
WWII – 5th Estate
French Revolution and Napoleonic eras influence on genealogy
1) Church records were turned over to the government in 1791
2) Civil Registration
3) Archives – includes BMD, census, wills etc.
4) Military conscription
5) The French Revolutionary Calendar
Locating Commune is essential – vital records of family members, neighbors, census, surname
websites, familysearch
How to Locate Town once you have name – google, mapquest, familysearch, plot, old map,
rootsweb
Church records – baptism, marriage, marriage banns, death
1)Marriage by finding all of the siblings of a child. Using the oldest child, go a few years
previous that date to find marriage.
2)Guess that someone got married at 18-25 years old. Find birth record.
3)Locate the death record, and usually the age, and perhaps the parent/spouse is written. Use
that to find the birth and marriage.
4)Assume that the mother is about 18-25 when a child is born to find the mother’s birth record.
The father may be the same age or older.
5)Record all of the BMDs for one name, gather the information of siblings & parents to put a
tree together. Easier when name is to the side or underlined.
6)Use the witnesses and godparents to help put the family together. Sometimes a witness is
in many records and suddenly is not. Check for a death record about that time.
7)Sometimes you have to look at the other documents to get an idea wording.
8) Siblings records are helpful also. Surprisingly, people born in the early 1700’s can live
almost 100 years, when civil records are available.
Remember French records go back to the 1500’s You might be lucky and to go back that far!!!
Names, Confirmation, Signatures
Civil Records – Birth, Marriage, Death, 10 year Annexes, Archival vs. Local notes, Witnesses
Archives-www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr (France)
www.genealogy.tm.fr/ (France)
http://www.francegenweb.com/~wiki/index.php/Accueil (France)
http://search.arch.be/ - (Belgium)
https://www.wiewaswie.nl/ - (Netherlands)
Census – finding on browseable images at familysearch.org
1) Usually lots of little towns on one census. Look at front few slides to see if the towns are in
order, or there is an index of surnames. Look at the last few slides, the index can be at the
end.
2) You might have 400 pages of census. Try going every 10 pages or 20 pages and you will
have a lot less clicks to find your town.
3) Many times, the next census, the towns are in the same order, so if you find it at the end of
one census, start at the end of the next census
4) The names are sometimes in alpha order – lucky find!
5) If they live in a large city you are probably out of luck.
6) Use two computers at one time, start at the end, and beginning on the other.
7) Check the beginning and the end. If there are 800 pages listed at the top, but the end shows
you are one page 350, there are probably two censuses on the roll, so then the first one should
end at about 400. Go to that page and see the page number.
8) I do this while in front of the TV etc. Be patient.
9) Or you can wait a couple of years until they are indexed.
Calendar
French Premier Genealogical Website – www.Geneanet.org – people helping people
Maps and other visuals– Cassini http://cassini.ehess.fr/cassini/fr/html/
Why did they come?
www. Ancestry.com – library edition
Genealogical societies – www.genefede.org
Enjoy!
Email: [email protected]
Best Websites for French Ruled Countries
France
www.geopatronyme.com - where people with your surname are living in France from 1891-1990.
http://cassini.ehess.fr/cassini/fr/html/ - Cassini maps as discussed in class
www.geneanet.org – free for people to look up other people’s trees. Pay for archives and advance
searches. Sign up and get your top names sent to you weekly. Covers Belgium, Luxembourg, and other
countries. (Commercial)
http://www.genealogie.com/v4/genealogie/Search.mvc/TreeSearch - (Commercial -$9-$15 per month,
depending on number of months purchased.) Easy to use, just put in surname to look for family trees
http://www.planete-genealogie.fr/recherches/recherche.html - this is connected to Heredis- very
similar to our familytreemaker connected to ancestry. People who use the Heredis database put their
trees on line at this site. I tried it and found names for free. Good for family trees.
www.genealogy.tm.fr/ - Provides links to other genealogical sites. Lists Archive addresses and when open
for research. (Very important when planning a visit) Has other general information on French research.
www.francegenweb.org or http://www.francegenweb.com/~wiki/index.php/Accueil
You will first get French, but hit the translation button in the upper right hand corner for an English
translation. Lists many online French records, including each of the archives. This will be your go-to
spot. Start by going to “help and tools”, click on “archives” then “Map of France Archives Online”. This
will take you to a colored map that will show you which will give you great information about the
information available for each department. Click on the department you are looking for information
about, and you will see how to contact the department and by clicking on “digital archives” you’ll access
the online information listed. They add information regularly. By going to this website you are really
finding all 101 websites for each of the 101 departments. Includes maps, and gazetteers for communes,
and a conversion for the French Republican calendar.
http://www.geneawiki.com/ - click on the English flag for about 50,000 articles about French genealogy
http:www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/arn/ aka National Archives
Many records are kept at the department level, but some are at the National level.
http://www.guide-genealogie.com/ - information on sources, methodology and more. Click on genealogy
abroad for information on Belgium.
www.geneafrance.org - This site links to the actual records online, and to many genealogical websites.
Click on British flag to translate into English. It gives details about births, marriages, and forms to send
to get civil records. Lots of good information.
www.francegenweb.org/~protestants/ - Useful for Huguenot Research
www.bnf.fr/ - National Library of France – many digital collections
http://www.france-genealogie.fr/ – Archives of France and the French Federation of Genealogy working
together, known as the official genealogy website
http://www.geneapass.org/ - a directory of genealogical websites in France
www.gencom.org/ - Access to Google, Bing, and Michelin, as well as the Cassini Maps. (These maps were
completed in 1783 and show even the smallest village in detail.) Also some information about the towns,
mostly landmarks – church, statues etc.
https://sites.google.com/site/freefrenchancestry/ - kind of a Cyndi’s list for free French websites.
Three French Revolutionary Calendar conversion websites:
http://stevemorse.org/jcal/french.html
http://www.napoleon.org/en/essential_napoleon/calendar/index.asp
http://www.stevepugh.net/revcalendar.html
http://www.vieuxmetiers.org/ - Old French professions – click on Metiers A-Z
www.genefede.org – lists of (safe) French genealogy societies by location, to hire someone if needed
The French Genealogy Blog by Anne Morddel – She is an American genealogist specializing in France, who
gives great information several times a week and her archives of information are awesome.
Alsace Lorraine websites
http://population.bas-rhin.fr/ellenbach/index.php - Several censuses for Bas-Rhin 1819-1885 if available
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fraalsac/alsaceaz/admin.htm - lists over 200 communities,
populations and religion in the Alsace Lorraine area
Belgium
http://search.arch.be/ - The archives website. It includes church, civil, military and notary records.
http://search.arch.be/fr/tips/98-registresparoissiaux - loading pre 1800 church records weekly - new
http://search.arch.be/fr/tips/101-etat-civil - Belgian civil records on line – keep checking back both new
sites
Instructions: Register and activate your registration after checking your email.
Then click on the link above and go to the town of your choice, then make sure you click on the second
tab from the left "Archives Numeriques" It will load all the images for the particular register you want
to see, so be patient. Then browse through the pages of the register. Not all towns are available, so
keep checking back.
http://belgium.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index.html - an active rootsweb site. You can sign up to be on the
mailing list which is also active
http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/belgian_surnames.shtml - information on Belgian surnames
https://sites.google.com/site/belgiumancestry/ - a listing of free Belgian websites – a little Cyndi’s list
Many civil records available at familysearch.org
Luxembourg
http://www.deltgen.com – this is a little known site with lots of information. A huge tree and many
(100ish) links. Rob Deltgen is miniature Cyndi for this tiny country. E
http://www.familux.org/ - lots of information on Luxembourg – American genealogy. Try the genealogy
resources tab
Many civil and census records available at familysearch.org
Netherlands
https://www.wiewaswie.nl/*E The core of the old Genlias’ more than 15 million records on more than 64
million individuals remains its post-1811 civil registers, the most important source for Dutch ancestors,
which is also adding early Netherlands parish records and inheritance declarations.
https://sites.google.com/site/freedutchancestry/ - a small Cyndi’s list of free websites for Dutch
research
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/ - Surname index of the 1947 census. Put in surname and a map will
pop up showing you which areas the name is popular
http://www.traceyourdutchroots.com/roots/ - general information on Dutch genealogy
http://www.begraafplaatsenonline.nl/index.html - Netherland’s findagrave
militieregisters.nl – Dutch military records, in the upper left hand corner, you’ll see English. You will see
at the bottom of the list where to find the surnames. The older the record (1800s) the better.
Many civil and census records available at familysearch.org
Italy
www.italiangenealogy.com – genealogists helping one another
www.italiangen.org – based out of NY, links to Italian research
www.italyworldclub.com/genealogy - list of surnames, meanings and the commune they come from and
other information
Finding Italian Roots – John Philip Colletta –includes many websites
Italian-American Family History – Sharon Debartolo Carmack
French computer terms
Aide - Help
Acceuil - Welcome
Chargement en cours - Loading
Choisissez - Choose
Comment s’abonner -How to subscribe
Disponible - Available
Données - Data
Effacer - Erase
Fermer - Exit
Imprimer - Print
J’accepte ces conditions – I accept these conditions
Lieu - Place
Mode d’emploi - Directions
Mode d’emploi – Directions
Nom - name
Ordinateur- Computer
Plein ecran –Full screen
Prochainement - Next
Rechercher - Search
TD – Tables Décennales – 10 year indexes
Télécherger – Download
Toponyme – Place name
Valider- Search